1052 ≠ 3

As if we needed any more proof that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that we desperately need a change of regime in Washington, this story in today's Washington Post illustrates perfectly just what the result of Republicans controlling all branches of government for the past five years has been. The most secretive and corrupt administration in the history of our nation has been allowed free reign (of terror) in its single-minded quest to overturn every civil liberty held dear by Americans, and to consolidate and hold on to power now and into the far future.

In an interview last week, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said "it's a fair comment" that the GOP-controlled Congress has done insufficient oversight and "ought to be" doing more.

"Republican Congresses tend to overinvestigate Democratic administrations and underinvestigate their own," said Davis, who added that he has tried to pick up some of the slack with his committee. "I get concerned we lose our separation of powers when one party controls both branches."

Democrats on the committee said the panel issued 1,052 subpoenas to probe alleged misconduct by the Clinton administration and the Democratic Party between 1997 and 2002, at a cost of more than $35 million. By contrast, the committee under Davis has issued three subpoenas to the Bush administration, two to the Energy Department over nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, and one last week to the Defense Department over Katrina documents.

Congress "ought to be doing more." Is that the "No shit, Sherlock" quote of the year, or am I just being naive?

"I do not think you can argue today that Congress is a coequal branch of government; it is not," said Lee H. Hamilton, president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman and vice chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, told reporters this month: "It has basically lost the war-making power. The real debates on budget occur not in Congress but in the Office of Management and Budget. . . . When you come into session Tuesday afternoon and leave Thursday afternoon, you simply do not have time for oversight or deliberation."

Congress a coequal branch of government? For five years, it has been the slavering lapdog following close at the heels of the bully boys in the White House, only too happy to go along with whatever costly and illegal schemes Chimpy McJingo's minions have proposed. No questionable criminal activity or Constitutional indignity has been so big it couldn't safely be ignored by the rabid partisans who are supposed to be watching out for our best interests.

Last month, House Democrats tried to pass a measure criticizing the GOP for a "refusal to conduct oversight" of the Iraq war. In the Senate, Democrats forced the chamber into a closed session to embarrass Republicans for foot-dragging on an inquiry into the alleged manipulation of Iraq intelligence.

"The House has absolutely zero oversight. They just don't engage in that," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in an interview last week.

Specifically, Democrats list 14 areas where the GOP majority has "failed to investigate" the administration, including the role of senior officials in the abuse of detainees; leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame; the role of Vice President Cheney's office in awarding contracts to Cheney's former employer, Halliburton; the White House's withholding from Congress the cost of a Medicare prescription drug plan; the administration's relationship with Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi; and the influence of corporate interests on energy policy, environmental regulation and tobacco policy.

Meanwhile, the House ethics committee has not opened a new case or launched an investigation in the past 12 months, despite outside investigations involving, among others, [Randy "Duke"] Cunningham and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Now more than ever, with the blunt admission of wrongdoing on the part of the president, the American people need and deserve some serious Congressional oversight. We need to know that no one in our government is above the law, no matter which party he or she is affiliated with. We need to know that the system still works.

There ought to be a law. Oh, wait -- there is. And the president broke it. Now it's up to our elected representatives to do the right thing and bring him to justice. Anything less will be completely unacceptable.